Hi. I recently bought my new computer choosing the components, so I wanted to ask you if it was a good choice.

Intel i7 960
Msi Gtx 460 Hawk
4Gb RAM
And the motherboard is the most basic of 1366 socket.

But the truth is, that i've got two doubts:

-Would have been better to buy the 950 instead of the 960? Will i feel the difference?
-The same question with the socket 1555 and the 2600 cpu.

Thanks for all!

If your buying a rig for SR, wait.

Prices will be cheaper, and new hardware will be out.

That's likely overkill. To go over a few things:

• I HIGHLY doubt that Skyrim, which appears will have much of the same core basis, (code-wise) as Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas, will be able to make much use of more than 2, MAYBE 3 CPU cores. It's widely seen that hexa-cores are worthless for gaming; hence, paying the premium to go from the 960 to the 970 is 100% wasted, at least if gaming's your concern.
  
• A GTX 460 is likewise overkill: the graphics shown so far are mostly "Oblivion+", which makes sense given that a lot of work was done on a new engine (stealing away developer time from new effects and details) and it's going to be on the (by now vastly ancient) 360 and PS3 anyhow. Remember, the PS3 has what's basically akin to a 7900GT in it, and the 360 is comparable. Think for a moment how those stack vs. a GTX 460. (and no, unlike with the CPU subsystem, consoles and PCs use the exact same abstraction, so there is no "improved efficiency" on the consoles whatsoever)
  • The only open questions here are both the resolution/features (AA, AF, etc.) you want to play with, and what settings beyond the console versions the PC version will even come with. There's considerable worry that TES V won't even come with any DX10/11 features, limited only to the DX 9.0c-equivalent that the console versions support.
• Since most users STILL have 32-bit OSes, using more RAM than such support is out of the question for gaming.
  
• The motherboard doesn't really impact your performance, unless you're doing overclocking; then, it can be a factor in how well you can overclock. But I don't think that OC'ing is necessary at all here.

The purchase being done, I congratulate you. It is very good for upcoming games. Skyrim should have nice and friendly requirements since it's made for 6 year old consoles.

We don't have the requirements for Skyrim, but the requirements for The Witcher 2 may be a good indication as it's the same type of game and the graphics looks equally "heavy" in the videos:

Recommended specs The Witcher 2

Processor: Intel Quad Core or AMD equivalent
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 260, 1 GB memory / Radeon HD 4850 with 1 GB memory
Memory: 3 GB for Windows XP / 4 GB for Windows Vista and Windows 7
Hard Disk: At least 16 GB of free space


Minimum specs The Witcher 2

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or AMD equivalent
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 8800, 512 MB memory or ATI equivalent
Memory: 1 GB for Windows XP / 2 GB for Windows XP
Hard Disk: 8 GB for the game installation and 8 GB for bonus materials

If it can run Crysis, it can run Skyrim.

If you are buying it mainly for Skyrim I would of personally waited till a month before launch. You could of bought the same parts for a fraction of the price or got better parts for the same price. Though really that pc will last you a while so it's not like you are losing out buying now, it just would of been smarter to wait if Skyrim was your main focus.

Why would you ask this? We don't know the system specs for Skyim.
I don't get the point of this thread.

I always get amused when I see developers just blanket-recommend quad-cores... When last I checked, there was still no demonstrable benefit to using them for gaming; at least, your money is still better spent upgrading to a faster dual-core CPU than switching to a (sometimes slower) quad-core.

The best I5 is better than the best I7.

This rig will work with full graphics and [censored]. go for it.

As has been said several times it's better to wait until a month before Skyrim, if not THE month of Skyrim. Bulldozer will be out by then which may impact prices.

Yeah sounds like a good rig. Not going too over-kill so don't listen to the people saying so. Obviously you want to buy something semi-future proof and therefore there is no point in buying something only good for this year.

I have a similar setup and i notice the most slow down from the hard drive. Especially in games such as Oblivion and Fallout. The land loads as it goes and as such is quite hard drive dependent. I have just invested in a 40gb Corsair SSD as these are very reasonably priced at the mo and will hold my OS and one game. Enough for me. Something to think about

This may be far fetched but I'm thinking about getting the Samsung Galaxy since they just dropped the price down to $200...

Heh, now you can play Skyrim Travels.

So, no chance I take it?

Good specs

While I think a HD5770 and up is fine, since I've seen the HD6950 1GB as low as $215AR... I'd go with that.

I bought mine due to my wife [censored]ing at me being on pc all the time so I gave her my old one(which still plays all games on high setting) n bought a new one with:
AMD 3.2 six core
580 GTX NVidia
8GB Ram
And some top of a line Asus mb in friys not sure of the name runs about 250-280$ last time I checked

Either way I think I'll be able to play on skyrim of both pc's
2nd pc had
2.8 quad core amd
269GTX NVidia
4GB of ram
Some Asus mb that I dont remember the name again lkk

I know everyone is sick of these threads but since one is up I do have a gaming PC question for you all:

Whats best for gaming, Intel or AMD CPU's? (I5 vs I7) (quad core vs hexa core). I'm talking the next 5 years of PC gaming....what CPU should I keep my eyes on between now and November for price/value/5 yr future proof?

OVERKILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


thanks for making me feel good about my economic situation . you dont need a decent pc- your just trying to keep up with an xbox (low end pc ftw)

Do any of you think that an 2GB AMD Radeon 6950 would be powerful enough to run Skyrim on highest settings?

Intall quad core Q6600 at 2.4
evga GTX 460 786 (femi)
6 gb ram

my pc pretty much smoke's any thing that i tossed at it lol

I have an i3 and I don't expect to run into any problems with Skyrim.
Quads are overrated!

Any speculation as to how my laptop would hold up?

i7-720QM
ATI Mobility HD 5730 1GB
4GB Ram

I'm studying Industrial Enginerring and the computer won't be only to play SR, obviously. I'll use editors or programs with powerfull renders, so i need an i7, and now.

Thanks for the answers.